2> 


Delivered  Before  Fifteen  Thousand  Men 
and  Women  at  the  Coliseum,  Chicago, 
November  29th,  1915 

BY 

®\)t  gon.  ML  $ourfee  Cocferan 


The  world  war — The  catastrophe  it  portends 
to  all  nations — The  moral  forces  of  Christen- 
dom invoked  by  Pope  Benedict  are  strong 
enough  to  end  it — How  they  can  be  set  in  motion 
and  made  effective  by  President  Wilson 


THE     H  OME  PRESS 
331  Madison  Avenue 

NEW  YORK 


A  PLEA  for  PEACE 


At  the  Chicago  meeting  called  by  the  Knights  of  Colum- 
bus on  November  29th,  to  support  the  Pope's  appeal  for 
peace,  the  great  Coliseum  was  packed  to  the  roof,  and  some 
three  thousand  persons  turned  away.  In  the  vast  audience 
were  representatives  of  practically  every  civic,  benevolent 
and  religious  body  in  the  entire  community,  without  dis- 
tinction of  race  or  creed. 

Judge  Samuel  Alschuler  of  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court  of  Appeals,  presided.  The  proceedings  were  opened  by 
Mr.  George  F.  Mulligan,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Arrangements,  who  felicitated  Chicago  on  the  union  of  such 
varied  elements  in  working  for  the  great  cause  that  had 
brought  them  together,  after  which  Mr.  William  N.  Brown, 
State  Deputy  for  Illinois  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  intro- 
duced the  Chairman  in  a  brief  but  very  forceful  speech. 

Judge  Alschuler  began  by  saying,  amid  loud  applause  and 
much  laughter,  that  while  he  was  always  prepared  for  un- 
usual developments  in  such  an  unusual  city  as  Chicago,  there 
was  one  condition  that  he  never  thought  would  have  been 
possible,  and  that  was  to  find  himself — a  Jew — presiding 
over  a  meeting  convoked  by  the  Knights  of  Columbus.  But 
he  esteemed  it  auspicious  as  it  was  unusual  to  find  elements 
which  had  formerly  been  divided  by  distrust  or  inflamed  by 
dislike  of  each  other,  now  united  in  one  solid  force  to  support 
a  plea  for  peace  to  be  voiced  by  a  man  who  had  become  prom- 
inent in  the  Catholic  Church  by  his  religious  work,  and  who 
had  also  become  prominent  in  American  citizenship  by  his 
patriotic  work,  as  a  member  of  Congress,  and  as  a  steady 
champion  of  peace  and  justice  everywhere,  whom  he  now 
presented  to  the  audience — the  Honorable  W.  Bourke  Cock- 
ran,  of  New  York. 

3 


Mr.  Cockran,  who  was  received  with  loud  applause,  the 
entire  audience  rising  to  its  feet,  said: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

/  Listening  to  the  very  stirring  and  impressive  words  with 
which  these  proceedings  were  opened,  I  could  not  help  feel- 
ing that  this  meeting,  even  though  it  produce  no  other 
results,  has  already  vindicated  itself  by  the  extraordinary 
numbers  (embracing  every  element  of  your  civic  life)  which 
it  has  brought  together  for  a  common  purpose— the  loftiest 
that  human  beings  could  cherish.  For  here,  as  you,  Sir,  have 
well  said,  we  find  all  the  moral  forces  of  this  great  com- 
munity (kept  apart  hitherto  by  differences  of  creed  or 
race)  uniting  in  a  single  movement  to  end  the  deadly  war 
which  for  more  than  a  year  has  been  devastating  the  fairest 
countries  of  Europe,  and  which  threatens  all  civilized  nations 
with  injuries  that  are  immeasurable. 

This  is  a  meeting  of  Americans  without  qualification  or 
condition  of  any  kind — of  Americans  who  value  their  citi- 
zenship above  all  things — not  alone  for  the  high  privileges 
it  bestows,  but  in  even  larger  degree  for  the  sacred  duties 
it  enjoins.  We  are  here — Catholic  and  Protestant — Jew  and 
Christian — not  abating  in  any  degree  the  fervor  of  our 
religious  convictions,  but  remembering  only  that  we  are  all 
Americans — to  consider  conditions  which  vitally  affect  the 
whole  fabric  of  civilization,  from  the  standpoint  not  merely 
of  America  first,  but  of  America  only,  y 

A  plea  for  peace  before  an  American  ^audience  is  no  longer 
a  mere  expression  of  sympathy  for  nations  scourged  by 
calamities  from  which  we  believe  ourselves  to  be  exempt. 

At  the  first  outbreak  of  this  dreadful  war,  we  fondly 
believed  that  its  ravages  could  be  confined  to  the  countries 
then  engaged  in  it,  and  that  it  would  not  endure  beyond  a 
few  months.  But  already  it  has  lasted  sixteen  months. 
Its  theatre  has  been  continuously  widening.    During  its 


4 


progress  other  nations  have  been  drawn  into  its  vortex. 
The  end  of  it  no  man  can  foresee.  The  devastation  it  has 
actually  wrought,  however,  makes  it  absolutely  clear  that 
if  this  conflict  be  prolonged  until  the  belligerent  nations  on 
one  side  or  the  other  shall  have  been  exhausted,  then  the 
prosperity  of  all  nations  will  be  ruined,  and  the  very  existence 
of  the  race  itself  imperilled. 

Conceive  for  a  moment  its  actual  ravages.  Millions  of 
human  beings  have  already  lost  their  lives.  It  has  been 
stated  in  the  English  House  of  Lords  by  one  of  its  most 
conspicuous  members  (who  was  but  recently  its  presiding 
officer — and  his  statement  has  never  been  contradicted) 
that  the  number  maimed  and  rendered  helpless  for  life  in 
all  the  different  belligerent  countries  reaches  the  stu- 
pendous figure  of  fifteen  millions.  The  value  of  property 
actually  destroyed  by  contending  armies,  together  with 
the  amount  of  money  already  expended  by  the  different 
belligerent  governments  in  conducting  this  war  amount  to 
over  twenty  billions  of  dollars,  a  sum  greater  than  the 
combined  national  debts  of  all  civilized  countries  before 
the  war  broke  out. 

The  awful  effect  of  these  losses  on  the  unfortunate  countries 
which  are  the  theatres  of  this  war,  no  words  at  our  command 
can  describe,  or  even  suggest.  Nor  is  it  necessary  that  I 
should  attempt  to  describe  them.  So  far  as  they  can  be 
measured  from  a  distance  I  am  sure  every  one  here  realizes 
them  fully  and  deplores  them  deeply.  For  the  men  who 
have  fallen  in  battle  your  prayers  have  been  freely 
offered,  that  they  be  afforded  eternal  rest  in  the  Bosom  of 
their  God.  For  the  larger  number  who  have  been  wounded, 
maimed,  impoverished  and  expatriated  you  have  generously 
contributed  money  that  their  distress  might  be  relieved  in 
some  degree. 

To-night  in  the  time  at  my  disposal  I  shall  confine  myself 
to  a  single  aspect  of  these  disasters  which,  so  far  as  I  know, 
has  not  yet  been  discussed,  and  that  is  the  very  serious 
consequences  they  portend  to  all  civilized  nations  of  the 

5 


earth,  under  the  peculiar  conditions,  social  and  economic, 
which  have  arisen  during  the  last  century. 

The  most  conspicuous  feature  of  that  period  has  been  an 
enormous  growth  in  population  throughout  the  world. 
This  growth  has  centered  entirely  in  cities.  In  rural  districts 
the  tendency  of  population  has  been  downward  rather  than 
upward. 

Now  these  great  urban  communities,  in  the  very  nature 
of  things,  live  literally  from  hand  to  mouth.  No  great  city 
can  produce  the  food  on  which  its  population  subsists,  nor 
provide  its  inhabitants  with  the  raw  materials  of  their 
industry.   All  these  must  come  from  outside  its  limits. 

A  spectator  looking  down  from  a  lofty  eminence  at  a 
great  city  like  Chicago  is  struck  at  once  by  great  buildings 
with  tall  chimneys  from  which  volumes  of  smoke  are  steadily 
rising — the  incense  offered  by  industry  to  the  God  who 
has  decreed  that  by  labor  alone  must  every  want  of  man  be 
supplied.  But  whence  comes  that  smoke?  Nothing  which 
those  buildings  contain,  not  a  single  element  of  which  the 
structure  itself  is  composed,  was  produced  here  in  Chicago. 
That  smoke  could  not  be  found  rising  Heavenward  here  if 
coal  had  not  been  brought  into  the  city  from  some  distant 
coal  mine.  The  bricks  and  the  stones  and  the  woodwork 
that  constitute  the  building,  must  have  been  supplied  by 
labor  expended  far  away.  And  in  each  factory  the  different 
elements  that  constitute  the  raw  materials  of  its  finished 
product  must  be  contributed  from  varied  climes.  And  in 
the  great  shops  and  stores  where  the  workers  employed  in 
these  factories  exchange  the  wages  gained  by  their  labor 
for  the  commodities  necessary  to  their  support,  all  the 
articles  they  purchase  are  themselves  products  of  labor  ex- 
pended in  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 

The  very  life  of  a  great  city  depends  on  a  continual  flow 
towards  it  of  food  supplies  and  raw  materials  of  industry, 
which  are  exchanged  against  a  continual  outward  tide  of 
commodities  produced  by  the  industry  of  its  own  population. 
As  these  tides  swell  populations  increase.    Should  they  fall 

6 


populations  must  diminish.  A  great  city  is  not  maintained 
solely  by  its  own  inhabitants.  Its  existence  depends  upon 
all  the  labor  and  all  the  resources  of  all  the  world. 

The  foundations  of  this  city  are  not  on  the  ground  that 
it  occupies.  The  foundations  of  its  buildings  rest  on  the 
soil  of  Illinois.  The  foundations  of  its  industrial  life,  that 
is  to  say,  its  real  foundations  are  in  the  industrial  energies 
of  men  exercised  everywhere. 

Since  every  city  depends  for  its  subsistence  upon  uninter- 
rupted supply  of  the  commodities  which  constitute  its  means 
of  subsistence  and  the  basic  materials  of  its  industry,  the 
loss  of  men  numbering  millions  in  the  full  tide  of  their  youth 
and  in  the  very  flower  of  their  productive  capacity  from 
the  industrial  forces  of  the  world  is  matter  of  serious 
moment  to  you  and  to  the  people  of  every  other  great  city. 
But  destruction  of  human  life  and  maiming  of  human 
beings  are  not  the  only  injuries  this  war  has  inflicted  upon  the 
productive  powers  of  mankind.  Its  destruction  of  property 
and  diversion  of  capital  from  productive  enterprises  of  in- 
dustry to  destructive  enterprises  of  war  is  an  additional 
restriction  to  the  prosperity  of  the  world  and  an  additional 
menace  to  the  human  race. 

The  efficiency  of  each  man  in  production  depends  upon  the 
capital  available  to  facilitate  his  labor,  and  the  amount  of 
capital  available  to  facilitate  labor  in  any  one  part  of  the 
world  is  the  entire  capital  of  the  whole  world.  When 
capital  becomes  scarce  the  cost  of  it  increases,  that  is  to  say 
the  rate  of  interest  rises.  When  it  is  abundant  it  becomes 
cheap  and  rates  of  interest  fall.^-    4^*^*      «JX.  * 

Owing  to  the  increased  rates  of  interest  already  cawsea  by 
the  loss  of  property  amounting  to  twenty  billions  of  dollars 
and  diversion  from  production  to  destruction  of  all  the  capital 
these  warring  countries  can  command,  any  industrial  enter- 
prise: the  erection  of  a  house,  the  building  of  a  railway,  or 
the  construction  of  a  great  public  improvement  will  cost 
now  more  than  three  times  what  it  would  have  cost  twenty- 
five  years  ago.    Indeed  it  is  doubtful  if  capital  for  construc- 


7 


tion  of  a  great  public  improvement  like  the  establishment  of 
transit  facilities  for  a  city  of  this  size  could  be  obtained  at  the 
present  time  on  any  terms  whatever.  Scarcity  of  capital 
therefore  menaces  the  prosperity  of  cities  in  two  ways: 
By  increasing  the  cost  of  producing  commodities  it  raises 
the  cost  of  living.  By  restricting  production  it  diminishes 
the  demand  for  labor  and  thus  depresses  the  rates  of  wages. 

So  we  see  this  war,  by  incapacitating  many  millions  of  men 
from  industry  and  destroying  capital  to  such  a  vast  extent, 
has  seriously  affected  the  conditions  of  life  not  merely  in  the 
countries  which  have  been  the  theatre  of  this  destruction, 
but  here  in  Chicago,  in  New  York,  and  every  other  city  of 
the  globe. 

The  first  effects  of  this  devastation  were  clearly  evident 
last  winter  in  the  widespread  unemployment  which  afflicted 
this  and  all  other  cities.  It  is  true  that  recently  a  demand  for 
munitions  of  war  has  caused  an  apparent  improvement  in  our 
industrial  conditions.  But  that  appearance  is  delusive. 
It  must  be  obvious  that  the  moment  this  war  is  over  the 
demand  for  these  war  materials  will  cease.  The  capital 
and  the  men  that  have  been  diverted  to  production  of 
them  from  other  industrial  enterprises  will  be  reduced  to 
idleness  for  a  season  at  least.  A  serious  dislocation  of  in- 
dustry must  follow.  The  panic  which  has  followed  every 
war  and  the  prolonged  industrial  depression  while  attempts 
to  repair  its  ravages  were  in  progress,  will  both  follow  this 
war  but  aggravated  to  a  degree  commensurate  with  the  un- 
paralleled destruction  it  will  have  wrought. 

I  beg  you  to  observe  that  hitherto  we  have  been  consider- 
ing the  degree  to  which  this  population  and  the  population 
of  every  city  throughout  the  world  must  be  affected  by  the 
devastation  and  ruin  already  caused  by  this  war.  But 
picture  to  yourselves  the  fearful  consequences  if  it  should  be 
continued  for  two  years  as  some  believe  (and  they  are  the 
best  informed),  or  for  one  year  as  seems  certain  now  unless 
some  force  as  yet  passive  can  be  invoked  to  end  it.  Assum- 


S 


ing  that  the  same  rate  of  casualties  will  continue,  the  num- 
ber killed  and  maimed  at  the  end  of  one  year  will  be  doubled 
and  at  the  end  of  two  years  they  will  be  trebled.  And  these  do 
not  include  any  of  the  old  or  the  infirm.  They  are  all  men  in 
the  full  tide  of  youth.  And  the  destruction  of  capital,  it  is 
safe  to  assume,  will  be  complete.  Nothing  capable  of  de- 
struction will  be  left.  The  sources  of  life  itself  already  seriously 
impaired  will  be  injured  beyond  repair,  and  the  very  exis- 
tence of  the  human  family  must  be  seriously  threatened.  If  so 
many  millions  of  men  in  the  very  flower  of  their  youth  are 
destroyed  or  mutilated,  how  can  the  race  be  preserved? 

But  it  is  in  great  cities  that  the  most  grievous  results 
will  inevitably  follow  such  devastation  of  life  and  property. 
Under  conditions  of  constantly  increasing  production 
more  than  two  million  human  beings  have  been  attracted 
here  to  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  where  they  and  the 
structures  in  which  they  toil  or  dwell,  and  the  highways 
over  which  they  and  the  products  of  their  labor  are  trans- 
ported, constitute  this  great  City  of  Chicago.  During 
the  same  period  and  under  similar  conditions  five  millions 
have  been  attracted  to  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson,  where  they 
constitute  the  City  of  New  York.  Everywhere  throughout 
the  world  new  cities  sprang  into  existence  and  grew 
with  amazing  rapidity  while  in  older  cities  populations 
increased  to  a  degree  without  parallel  or  precedent  in  all 
the  experience  of  man.  The  majority  of  these  populations 
have  always  been  able  to  support  themselves  hitherto  in 
conditions  which  were  constantly  improving  and  which 
during  the  last  decade  were  of  such  comfort  as  would 
have  been  considered  luxurious  even  a  generation  ago.  But 
if  this  war  continue  until  millions  of  human  beings  are  killed 
or  incapacitated,  and  all  the  capital  of  the  world — except 
what  may  survive  in  this  country — is  destroyed,  it  is  perfectly 
evident  that  there  will  not  remain  sufficient  supply  of 
raw  materials  to  afford  these  immense  populations  employ- 
ment, nor  of  commodities  to  afford  them  food  and  subsistence. 

In  a  city  where  five  millions  are  now  living  in  com- 

9 


parative  comfort,  means  of  subsistence  may  remain  sufficient 
to  support  two  millions.  And  in  a  city  which  now  contains 
two  millions  and  a  half  means  of  subsistence  might  remain 
sufficient  to  support  one.  But  what  is  to  become  of  the 
surplus  populations?  Whither  can  they  go?  There  is 
absolutely  no  place  to  which  they  can  turn  their  steps  with 
any  hope  of  improving  their  conditions.  They  cannot  go 
back  to  the  country  because  there  they  had  no  opportunity 
to  sell  their  labor  even  in  more  prosperous  times.  A  struggle 
for  existence  in  each  city  must  necessarily  ensue,  which 
will  take  the  form  of  competition  among  laborers  for  employ- 
ment; one  man  offering  to  work  for  lower  wages  than  another 
is  earning.  A  man  who  had  been  accustomed  to  receive 
five  dollars  a  day  will  find  himself  forced  to  compete  with 
an  unemployed  man  of  equal  ability,  willing  to  work  for 
four  and  a  half  dollars  a  day.  The  man  accustomed  to  receive 
four  and  a  half  dollars  must  compete  with  another  ready  to 
work  for  four  dollars  and  so  on  down  the  list  until  no  man 
would  be  working  for  wages  so  low  that  some  other  man 
under  the  pressure  of  want,  actual  or  approaching,  would 
not  be  found  eager  to  take  his  place  at  still  lower  wages. 

There  is  no  fountain  that  can  be  tapped  for  relief  of  this 
distress,  because  conditions  that  reduce  workers  to  such 
desperate  plight  will  also  deprive  employers  of  profits  or 
opportunity  of  profits.  Starvation  is  the  only  outcome 
and  when  men  cannot  produce  by  peaceful  industry  sufficient 
to  meet  their  necessities,  the  strongest  among  them  will 
strive  by  violence  to  seize  anything  that  may  appease 
hunger.  All  history  shows  that  populations  which  have 
been  called  into  existence  by  abundance,  if  they  find  them- 
selves doomed  to  extinction  by  famine  never  disappear  in 
peaceful  submission,  but  always  in  riot,  resistance  and 
confusion. 

The  danger  which  this  war  then  portends  to  us  and  to 
all  civilized  nations  is  insufficient  means  of  subsistence  for 
populations  of  great  cities,  provoking  attempts  of  men 
maddened  by  starvation  to  resist  a  fate  which  alas!  their 


10 


violence  instead  of  averting  or  even  retarding  can  only 
accelerate.  This  danger  must  be  obvious,  I  think,  to  any 
mind  enlightened  by  the  study  of  history  and  capable  of 
judging  events  that  are  current  in  the  light  of  events  that 
have  passed. 

But  there  is  another  result — and  an  appalling  one — 
which  this  war  may  produce  that  must  be  considered  if 
all  its  dreadful  potentialities  are  to  be  realized.  When  it 
first  broke  out  this  country  resolved  to  be  neutral,  and 
the  resolution  being  honestly  formed  we  fondly  believed 
it  could  be  easily  kept.  But  soon  we  found  that  maintenance 
of  our  neutrality  was  beset  by  grave  difficulties,  and  these 
multiplied  so  rapidly  that  if  this  conflict  be  prolonged  there 
is  grave  reason  to  apprehend  we  ourselves  may  be  drawn  into 
it.  Already  serious  injuries  have  been  done  us  by  both 
belligerents.  It  is  not  necessary  now  to  detail  them.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  at  this  moment  we  are  in  controversy 
or  correspondence  with  belligerent  countries  on  both  sides 
over  incidents  of  which  we  have  abundant  reason  to  com- 
plain. Now,  wherever  there  is  a  discussion  or  dispute 
between  two  countries  there  is  always  danger  of  conflict. 
And  if  this  dreadful  conflagration  should  extend  to  the 
United  States  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  last 
hope  of  civilization  will  be  dispelled  and  the  outlook  of 
the  human  family  will  be  desperate. 
/  Conceive  the  consequences  that  must  ensue  if  seizure  of 
our  merchant  ships  at  sea  should  plunge  this  country  into 
war  with  England.  War  with  Germany  would  be  just  as 
deplorable  from  every  moral  point  of  view,  and  we  as  citizens 
of  the  United  States  would  regret  it,  just  as  deeply.  It 
would  however  be  impossible  now  to  forecast  its  scope  or 
its  result.  But  war  with  England  owing  to  our  geographical 
position  must  immediately  precipitate  a  condition  which 
civilization  could  hardly  survive.  Every  foot  of  the  four 
thousand  miles  constituting  our  Canadian  frontier  would 
at  once  become  a  theatre  of  conflict,  and  of  conflict  between 


11 


men  of  such  stuff  that  it  would  be  a  struggle  to  the  death  of 
one  or  the  other. 

To  the  south  of  us  a  country  now  torn  by  factions  would  no 
longer  be  restrained  in  any  degree  by  our  proximity  or  by 
apprehension  of  our  watchful  vigilance.  Ruin  of  its  indus- 
trial and  social  life  would  be  inevitable.  India  quivering 
with  unrest  would  soon  be  convulsed  with  revolution.  Be- 
tween China  and  Japan  questions  now  pending  would  be 
pressed  for  settlement,  with  submission  or  conquest  of  the 
weaker  nation  the  sole  outcome.  South  America,  the  only 
region  which  would  remain  capable  of  furnishing  munitions 
of  war  or  articles  of  food,  would  become  at  once  the  theatre 
of  endless  intrigues  resulting  almost  inevitably  in  conflict. 
Australia  and  Africa  are  already  plunged  in  this  maelstrom 
of  sword  and  flame.  The  whole  globe  would  be  in  con- 
flagration. 


No  such  cataclysm  has  ever  yet  convulsed  the  world. 
The  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  which  has  always  been  con- 
sidered the  greatest  disaster  that  ever  befell  the  race  affected 
only  the  western  part  of  Europe.  The  eastern  part  and  all 
Asia  with  its  teeming  millions,  remained  practically  un- 
moved by  it.  And  yet  the  fall  of  Rome  very  nearly 
entailed  destruction  of  the  whole  European  population! 
What  must  be  the  outcome  of  a  cataclysm  that  involved 
the  whole  globe?  Where  could  there  be  found  an  influence 
to  stay  its  ravages?  Where  a  force  to  repair  them?  What 
but  universal  destruction  could  follow?  And  this  peril  actu- 
ally hangs  over  the  world  now,  suspended  by  nothing 
stronger  than  the  judgment  or  sense  of  a  single  individual. 
A  foolish  act  or  even  a  foolish  word  by  some  sea  captain 
seizing  an  American  ship  might  draw  us  irretrievably,  in- 
stantly, into  this  vortex  of  fury,  kindling  fires  of  destruction 
that  must  consume  the  world. 

Surely  when  civilization  is  suffering  such  injuries  and  in 
such  imminent  peril  of  destruction  the  supreme  law  of  self- 
defense  enjoins  on  it  the  employment  of  every  force  that  it 


12 


can  command  for  its  own  preservation.  Now,  what  agencies 
and  resources  can  civilization  invoke  to  safeguard  itself  by 
ending  this  war  and  establishing  a  genuine  peace? 

Is  it  possible  to  end  this  war  and  establish  permanent  peace 
before  additional  millions  are  killed,  maimed  and  wounded 
in  the  countries  which  are  its  theatre,  before  all  other  coun- 
tries are  impoverished  and  before  Christian  civilization  itself 
is  wrecked?    I  think  it  is. 

Such  a  peace,  however,  cannot  be  established  by  force. 
Certainly  not  by  any  exercise  of  physical  force  on  our  part. 
We  have  already  seen  that  our  participation  in  this  conflict 
would  simply  mean  immediate  precipitation  of  the  disastrous 
consequences  which  its  prolongation  renders  probable.  But 
there  remain  the  moral  forces  of  Christendom  and  these  I 
believe  are  powerful  enough  to  save  civilization  from  the  dis- 
asters already  brought  upon  it  by  the  embattled  military 
forces  of  the  world,  and  to  avert  the  peril  of  much  graver 
disaster  with  which  it  is  threatened. 

These  moral  forces  Our  Holy  Father  the  Pope  who  is  their 
Depositary  has  already  invoked.  This  vast  gathering  of 
men  and  women  (many  of  whom  do  not  acknowledge  his 
spiritual  authority)  is  the  first  answer  to  his  appeal.  And 
here  in  this  country  where  his  appeal  to  the  moral  forces  of 
civilization  has  met  this  most  impressive  response,  we  find 
an  agency  clothed  by  Almighty  God  in  His  own  inscrutable 
way  with  ample  power  to  set  these  forces  in  motion. 
That  agency  is  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  he 
can  make  these  moral  forces  effective  for  restoration  of  peace, 
without  in  the  slightest  degree  compromising  the  neutrality 
of  this  country. 

It  is  the  peculiar  feature  of  this  war  acknowledged  by 
everybody,  that  no  one  knows  the  object  for  which  it  is 
waged.  I  am  not  now  discussing  how  it  was  provoked.  That 
is  a  matter  which  will  be  determined  by  posterity  whose 
judgments  are  infallible,  inexorable  and  irreversible.  But  it 
is  an  astounding  fact  that  this  conflict,  which  has  already 
caused  the  most  extensive  injury  to  property  and  life  ever 


13 


inflicted  upon  the  human  family,  is  waged  without  any  definite 
object  that  either  belligerent  has  specified  or  avowed. 

We  have  indeed  heard  from  one  side  that  peace  will  never 
be  made  until  a  certain  brand  of  "militarism"  is  destroyed, 
"weak  nations  given  a  charter  of  liberty,"  and  "all  nations 
guaranteed  the  right  to  pursue  in  freedom  and  safety  the 
pathway  of  civilization."  And  we  have  heard  another  side 
declare  that  this  war  will  not  be  ended  until  its  "legitimate 
place  in  the  sun"  has  been  secured,  "freedom  of  the  seas" 
established  and  the  "iron  ring  of  hostility"  with  which  it 
believes  itself  to  have  been  surrounded  is  shattered  to  pieces. 
But  all  these  phrases  indicate  merely  a  state  of  mind,  not 
any  definite  purpose.  They  belong  to  that  order  of  expres- 
sions, sonorous  but  vague  and  utterly  meaningless,  by  which 
nations  no  less  than  individuals  often  seek  to  disguise  from 
themselves,  as  well  as  from  others,  purposes  which  if  candidly 
avowed  would  shock  the  consciences  even  of  those  intent  on 
them. 

It  is  very  necessary  to  point  out  here  and  to  emphasize 
that  there  are  but  three  conditions  which  a  conquering  na- 
tion can  impose  on  a  prostrate  nation,  or  a  strong  nation 
exact  from  a  weak  one :  annexation  of  its  territory,  which  of 
course  includes  the  people  inhabiting  it;  seizure  of  its  prop- 
erty, in  the  form  of  war  ships  or  of  money  exacted  as  indem- 
nity; destruction  of  its  property,  which  comprises  sinking  of 
its  ships  or  dismantling  of  its  fortresses. 

Now  surely  the  human  family  which  has  already  suffered 
such  appalling  losses  of  men,  and  of  capital  amounting  to 
twenty  billion  dollars  from  its  industrial  forces,  and  which  is 
threatened  with  the  dreadful  possibility  of  losing  many  mil- 
lions more  men,  and  practically  the  total  extinction  of  Euro- 
pean capital,  has  a  right  to  know  the  precise  conditions  on 
which  can  be  ended  the  war,  that  has  brought  upon  it  all 
these  disasters,  actual  and  potential.  Above  all,  the  Presi- 
dent of  these  United  States— as  head  of  the  nation  holding 
first  place  in  the  family  of  nations— whose  attempts  to 
maintain  neutrality  have  been  embarrassed  and  may  yet 

14 


be  frustrated  by  unforeseen  incidents  (which  these  belligerents 
themselves  may  not  be  able  to  avoid)  has  the  right  to  ask 
that  each  side  state  frankly  and  fully  what  it  seeks  to 
achieve  by  this  war — that  is  to  say  the  terms  on  which  it 
would  make  peace.  Such  a  request  on  his  part  would  not 
be  an  act  of  hostility  to  either  side,  but  an  act  of  benevo- 
lence and  of  justice  to  the  entire  human  family,  including 
the  belligerents  themselves.  Remember,  it  is  not  for  a 
moment  suggested  that  he  should  undertake  to  prescribe 
the  terms  of  peace.  That  would  be  attempting  to  assume 
himself  the  very  power  which  these  belligerents  are  fight- 
ing to  acquire,  and  to  obtain  which  they  have  plunged  the 
world  in  this  dreadful  strife.  But  so  long  as  no  attempt  is 
made  to  indicate  or  even  influence  the  terms  of  peace,  no 
belligerent  could  complain  of  being  asked  to  state  just  what 
it  would  require  before  consenting  to  lay  down  arms,  since 
the  statement  of  its  demands  might  be  the  very  means  of 
obtaining  them. 

A  request  that  each  side  disclose  the  conditions  on  which 
it  would  consent  to  peace  would  not  of  course  be  answered, 
by  repetitions  of  those  sonorous  but  vague  expressions  of 
which  all  the  belligerents  have  been  prolific,  but  which 
instead  of  defining  the  real  objects  for  which  they  are  battling 
have  served  merely  to  obscure  them. 

The  only  answer  which  would  fully  meet  such  a  request 
by  the  President  is  a  clear,  definite  statement  by  each  side 
of  the  exact  territory  that  it  demands  for  itself  or  of  which 
it  wishes  to  deprive  the  other;  the  precise  amount  of  money 
it  would  require,  the  number  of  ships  to  be  surrendered  or 
sunk;  the  particular  fortresses  it  wants  destroyed.  And  I 
venture  this  prediction:  Should  the  President  induce  all  these 
belligerents  to. state  definitely  in  terms  of  territory,  indem- 
nity or  property,  the  conditions  of  peace  they  are  ready  to 
accept,  the  demands  on  both  sides  would  prove  to  be  not 
very  far  apart;  and  that  means  formal  negotiations  for  definite 
peace  would  be  in  progress  within  a  few  weeks. 

Remember  I  say  these  demands  would  not  be  found 


15 


very  far  apart  if  the  President  succeeds  in  having  the  con- 
ditions of  peace  formulated  now  when  neither  side  is  in 
such  a  position  of  advantage  that  it  can  afford  to  despise 
or  disregard  the  opinion  and  conscience  of  the  world  by 
making  demands  obviously  extravagant  or  unreasonably 
severe.  But  if  the  conditions  of  peace  are  suffered  to  re- 
main undisclosed  until  one  side  lies  prostrate  under  the  heel 
of  the  other,  then  the  victors  will  be  in  a  position  to  dis- 
regard alike  the  conscience  of  civilization  and  the  public 
opinion  of  their  own  countries.  And  in  that  event  the  terms 
of  peace — or  rather  the  terms  of  submission — will  be  governed 
by  rancor  inflamed  to  fury,  rather  than  by  statesmanship 
enlightened  through  justice. 

In  all  these  warring  countries  there  is  a  very  strong  desire 
for  peace.  But  each  one  is  convinced  that  its  utter  destruc- 
tion is  the  object  of  this  war,  and  that  by  fighting  alone 
can  its  national  life  be  saved.  And  this  frame  of  mind  is 
due  largely  if  not  entirely  to  those  perversely  distracting 
phrases  we  have  been  considering.  If  each  country  were 
apprised  definitely  and  clearly  of  the  territory  or  money 
which  its  rulers  were  fighting  to  obtain,  its  conscience 
would  be  quick  to  revolt  from  anything  like  a  scheme  of 
wanton  injury  or  spoliation.  If  one  side  declined  to  disclose 
its  purposes,  even  though  requested  to  state  them  by  the 
President,  no  action  by  this  country  would  be  necessary  or 
advisable.  Refusal  by  any  belligerent  to  answer  such  an 
inquiry  could  be  left  with  perfect  safety  to  the  conscience 
of  mankind. 

The  judgment  of  civilization  and  the  public  opinion  of 
each  country  are,  then,  the  moral  forces  by  which  this  dread- 
ful conflict  can  be  ended.  They  are  rendered  inefficient  now 
because  they  are  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  real  objects  for 
which  millions  of  men  have  been  destroyed  and  many  more 
millions  are  doomed  to  destruction  and  mutilation  if  the 
war  be  suffered  to  continue.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  is  in  a  position  where  he  can  make  these  moral  forces 
effective  by  causing  both  sides  to  make  clear  their  purposes 

16 


while  the  war  is  still  in  progress.  And  I  repeat  that  in 
doing  this  the  President  will  not  be  violating  neutrality  but 
he  will  be  observing  scrupulously  the  very  nicest  require- 
ments of  international  comity  or  politeness. 

Now  it  may  be  objected  why  is  the  President  of  the  United 
States  clothed  with  any  higher  authority  to  take  such  action 
than  the  head  of  any  other  neutral  state?  Would  it  not  be 
advisable,  some  will  ask,  to  secure  cooperation  of  other 
neutral  states — to  effect  a  league  of  neutrals,  is  the  expres- 
sion widely  used — for  the  purpose  of  securing  peace?  The 
answer  is  clear.  The  President  of  the  United  States  has  a 
special  warrant  for  asking  these  nations  to  declare  the  con- 
ditions on  which  they  will  make  peace,  arising  under  the 
Providence  of  God  from  incidents  of  the  war  directly  and 
peculiarly  affecting  the  people  of  this  country. 

In  the  course  of  this  war  we  have  suffered  serious  injuries 
from  both  sides,  and  questions  arising  from  them  are  now 
actually  pending.  And  each  has  taken  such  a  position 
with  reference  to  the  acts  of  which  we  complain  that 
recurrence  of  them  is  exceedingly  probable  if  not  inevita- 
ble. If  these  acts  all  belonged  to  the  past  they  would 
naturally,  I  might  say  necessarily  be  left  to  settlement 
by  diplomatic  negotiations.  But  when  they  are  likely  to 
recur  the  President  may  find  himself  confronted  with  the 
question  whether  he  is  not  bound  to  take  measures  for  pre- 
venting them.  Now  whether  he  should  adopt  measures  of 
prevention  or  suffer  these  grievances  to  remain  subjects  of 
negotiation  might  very  largely  depend  upon  the  length  of  time 
that  the  conflict  is  likely  to  last.  For,  obviously,  if  its  dura- 
tion would  probably  be  short  the  likelihood  of  recurrence 
would  be  greatly  diminished,  and,  therefore,  measures  of 
prevention  might  not  be  considered  necessary.  If  on  the 
other  hand  the  war  is  likely  to  be  prolonged,  recurrence  of 
these  injuries  would  be  exceedingly  probable  and  under  such 
conditions  he  might  feel  that  prevention  was  his  duty. 

The  President  has  a  clear  right,  then,  to  ask  from  either 


17 


belligerent  information  which  may  enable  him  to  determine 
his  own  course  with  respect  to  some  act  for  which  that  bellig- 
erent is  responsible,  provided  that  the  information  would 
not  involve  disclosures  that  might  affect  success  of  its 
war  measures.     The  President  would  not  be  justified,  of 
course,  in  asking  one  of  the  belligerents  to  disclose  the 
extent  of  its  forces,  or  their  disposition,  or  how  near  it  was 
to  exhaustion  of  men  or  materials  of  war.   But  there  could 
be  no  objection  to  his  asking  each  belligerent  to  say  just 
what  it  is  fighting  for,  since  information  on  that  head 
cannot  effect  its  military  operations  while  it  would  shed  some 
light  upon  the  probable  length  of  the  war.    If,  for  instance, 
one  side  declared  its  determination  to  continue  fighting  till  the 
other  side  was  exterminated,  that  would  indicate  a  war  of 
long  duration  and  the  President  might  feel  justified  in  taking 
measures  to  prevent  injuries  which  very  likely  would  be  of 
frequent  recurrence.    On  the  other  hand,  if  it  were  found 
that  the  demands  on  all  sides  might  easily  be  reconciled,  a 
speedy  cessation  of  hostilities  would  be  probable  and  then 
the  President  would  undoubtedly  feel  justified  in  leaving 
adjustment  of  our  own  complaints  to  settlement  by  diplo- 
macy. 

Now  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  the  only  person 
in  all  the  world  whom  the  tide  of  events  has  placed  in  this 
position.    There  is  here  no  suggestion  whatever  of  force, 
but  merely  that  information  be  requested  which  may  aid  the 
President  in  determining  his  policy  concerning  acts  of  the 
countries  to  whom  the  request  is  addressed.    The  fact  that 
such  information  afforded  to  the  President  would  make  clear 
the  real  objects  of  this  war  in  terms  that  can  be  understood 
by  everyone,  and  that  with  such  light  to  inform  them  the 
moral  forces  of  civilization  will  be  enabled  to  effect  peace, 
cannot  be  a  valid  objection  to  asking  for  it,  but  furnishes 
additional  reasons  why  it  should  be  most  strenuously  sought. 
One  thing  is  perfectly  certain:  civilization  will  not  enforce 
peace  on  any  conditions  except  those  of  justice.    And  peaee 
established  on  justice  will  lead  to  reconciliation,  per- 

18 


manent  and  complete,   of  all  these    warring  countries. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  even  if  such  action  by  the  President 
should  result  in  peace  would  not  these  warring  nations  at 
once  begin  extensive  preparations  for  renewal  of  the  conflict 
on  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  requirements  of  modern 
wars,  and  would  not  these  impoverish  the  world  almost  as 
grievously  as  waging  war  itself?  Here  again  I  answer, 
Providence  has  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  President  power 
not  merely  to  effect  restoration  of  peace  but  to  secure  general 
disarmament,  and  that  too  without  assuming  an  attitude 
of  hostility  to  other  powers,  or  attempting  to  assert  authority 
or  control  over  any  of  them.  And  the  measures  he  has 
already  announced  his  determination  to  recommend  are 
precisely  those  which,  if  adopted,  must,  in  my  judgment, 
lead  inevitably  to  general  disarmament. 

After  this  war  it  is  hardly  possible  that  any  of  the  countries 
engaged  in  it  will  be  in  a  position  to  maintain  a  huge  arma- 
ment and  at  the  same  time  leave  anything  like  sufficient 
means  of  subsistence  to  its  population.  Certainly  none  will 
be  eager  to  undertake  such  a  burden  unless  in  the  hope  of 
making  itself  first  among  the  armed  nations  of  the  world. 
But  such  a  primacy  in  military  establishments  this  country 
can  prevent  any  other  country  from  securing  by  the  simple 
course  of  establishing  ourselves  the  strongest  armament  of 
all. 

"Without  undertaking  to  discuss  here  or  to  anticipate  any 
of  the  proposals  for  preparedness  which  the  President  will 
submit  to  Congress  next  week,  this  much  is  perfectly  obvious : 
if  at  the  end  of  this  war  other  leading  nations  continue  to 
arm  then  we  must  arm  too.  And  in  that  event  we  must 
outarm  the  strongest  of  them.  One  conclusion  is  inevitable 
from  the  recent  experience  of  the  world.  No  country  can 
afford  to  remain  unarmed  when  all  around  it  other  countries 
are  steadily,  and  indeed  feverishly,  prosecuting  preparations 
for  war.  It  is  believed  by  a  good  many  that  one  or  more  of 
the  great  nations  brought  to  the  verge  of  bankruptcy  by  this 

19 


war  might  be  tempted  by  the  extent  of  our  possessions  and 
the  vast  wealth  of  our  population  to  attack  this  country  in 
the  hope  of  exacting  a  huge  indemnity  from  us.  I  do  not 
think  this  at  all  probable.  Indeed  I  think  it  most  unlikely 
that  after  the  experience  of  the  last  sixteen  months  any 
nation  could  still  harbor  the  delusion  that  there  can  be  any 
profit  in  war,  no  matter  how  successfully  it  may  be  waged. 
Nevertheless  such  an  attack  is  not  any  more  unlikely  than 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war  now  raging  was  eighteen  months 
ago.  Preparedness  I  believe  means  that  we  must  be  pre- 
pared at  all  times  to  meet  any  eventuality.  So  long  as  we 
have  the  largest  possessions  to  tempt  attack  we  must  main- 
tain the  largest  armaments  to  defend  them,  both  by  land 
and  sea.  If  our  security  is  to  depend  on  force  we  cannot 
trust  to  the  benevolence  or  friendship  or  forbearance  of  any 
other  nation.  We  must  depend  on  ourselves  alone  and  on 
the  armed  might  we  can  establish. 

But  if  all  nations  will  consent  to  forego  these  extensive 
military  establishments,  then  we  would  gladly  lead  the  world 
in  disarmament.  With  respect  to  armaments,  I  believe 
our  position  will  prove  ultimately  to  be  this:  we  stand 
ready  to  offer  all  nations  perfect  equality  with  us,  but  it 
must  be  an  equality  of  disarmament.  If  an  armed  world 
is  to  emerge  from  the  war,  then  we  will  be  first  in  arma- 
ments as  befits  our  position  among  nations.  And  this 
position  all  nations  know  we  have  the  power  to  take  and 
maintain. 

Now  I  believe  there  is  no  country,  however  warlike  its 
disposition,  which  would  not  prefer  to  share  first  place  as  an 
armed  power  with  all  others  than  take  second  place  to  any 
one  nation.  And  since  second  place  among  armed  nations 
is  the  highest  that  will  be  left  open  to  the  strongest  of  them 
when  we  ourselves  take  first  place,  I  am  quite  certain  they 
will  all  become  eager  to  rid  themselves  of  burdens  which 
crush  their  populations  to  the  earth  and  which  no  longer 
can  result  in  making  any  of  them  the  predominent  military 
force  of  the  world    A  general  understanding  then  could 

20 


easily  be  reached  that  no  country  would  maintain  a  military 
establishment  greater  than  was  necessary  to  preserve  peace 
within  its  own  borders— say  a  force  equal  to  one  per 
cent,  of  its  population.  The  beneficent  results  of  general 
disarmament  would  be  incalculable.  Dismissal  from  un- 
productive idleness  in  barracks  of  some  five  or  six  millions 
of  men  to  productive  fields  of  industry,  and  restoration  of 
capital  amounting  to  between  two  or  three  billions  of  dollars 
every  year  from  wasteful  preparations  for  war  to  the  channels 
of  useful  commerce  would  repair  the  ravages  of  this  conflict 
within  five  years.  And  then  the  world  would  enter  upon  a 
period  of  prosperity  such  as  the  children  of  men  have  never 
known.  But  this  happy  outcome  will  be  possible  only  if 
this  war  be  ended  now.  If  it  continue  until  many  millions  of 
men  in  the  flower  of  their  youth  are  incapacitated  from  labor 
and  practically  the  whole  capital  of  the  world  is  destroyed, 
then  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  measure  of  prosperity  we 
have  enjoyed  in  the  past  can  ever  be  restored  or  how  even 
the  human  race  can  be  preserved. 
jf  Such  an  agreement  for  general  disarmament  would  not 
"  greatly  change  the  international  relations  which  have 
governed  the  world  before  this  war.  Mobilization  of  an 
army  has  always  been  considered  an  act  of  hostility  by 
neighboring  countries.  This  would  merely  put  organiza- 
tion of  an  army  on  the  same  footing  as  mobilization  of  an 
army  is  now.  Should  any  country  undertake  to  increase  its 
military  establishment  beyond  the  force  necessary  to  preserve 
peace  within  its  own  borders,  then  this  country  could  always 
stand  ready  to  outstrip  such  preparations  for  war  by  more  ex- 
tensive preparations  on  our  part.    And  this  would  end  them. 

And  thus  we  find  the  whole  course  of  events  has  been 
directed  by  Almighty  God  so  as  to  make  this  country  the 
agency  by  which  all  the  moral  forces  of  Christendom  can  be 
made  effective  for  the  restoration  of  peace — not  the  troubled 
peace  of  conquest  and  submission,  but  the  permanent 
peace — the  blessed  peace — of  reconciliation  and  justice;  and 
for  the  liberation  of  humanity  from  the  curse  of  armaments. 


21 


I  am  aware  that  the  peace  for  which  I  am  pleading— 
a  peace  permanent  and  universal— will  be  characterized 
by  many  as  a  vain  dream,  an  aspiration  wholly  irrecon- 
cilable with  human  nature.  War,  they  will  insist,  is  such  an 
essential  feature  of  existence  that  as  men  have  always 
waged  it  in  the  past  so  they  will  always  be  found  either 
waging  it  or  preparing  to  wage  it. 

Now  of  course  if  this  be  true,  if  war  is  indeed  an  essen- 
tial condition  of  human  existence,  denunciation  of  it  is 
but  vain  rebellion  against  the  dispensations  of  Almighty 
God.  But  I  deny  that  such  a  peace  is  unattainable  or  that 
the  desire  for  it  is  a  vain  aspiration  of  enthusiasm.  And 
in  taking  this  position  I  plant  myself  upon  unassailable 
ground,  for  I  am  merely  contending  that  nothing  is  impos- 
sible which  has  already  occurred.  What  man  has  done 
that  man  can  repeat.  And  what  man  has  done  under 
conditions  that  were  difficult  and  almost  desperate,  he 
can  certainly  repeat  under  conditions  that  are  vastly  more 
favorable. 

Peace  for  the  sake  of  peace — not  as  a  measure  of  policy 
for  the  advantage  of  one  nation  at  the  expense  of  others, 
but  as  a  measure  of  justice  for  the  benefit  of  all  nations 
and  all  the  children  of  men  inhabiting  thein^pK  already 
been  established  in  this  world.  Once — and  on6e  only,  so  far 
as  I  know — was  peace  established  on  any  other  ground 
than  as  a  matter  of  policy  for  advantage  of  the  state  con- 
senting to  it  or  enforcing  it,  but  that  was  in  a  time  of  even 
more  widespread  conflict  than  this,  and  when  the  disastrous 
results  of  prolonged  war  which  are  now  potential  were 
actually  scourging  the  human  family  and  driving  it  to 
extinction. 

Nearly  nine  centuries  ago  the  wars  and  disturbances  that 
had  continued  almost  without  intermission  for  five  hundred 
years  after  the  fall  of  Rome  had  exhausted  Western  Europe 
to  such  a  degree  that  men  were  driven  by  famine  to  feed 
on  the  flesh  of  each  other.  Raoul  Glaber,  the  contemporary 
writer  to  whose  chronicles  we  are  indebted  for  knowledge 

22 


of  these  events,  tells  us  that  travellers  were  waylaid  on  the 
highways  and  killed,  not  by  robbers  for  any  valuables  of 
which  their  bodies  might  be  despoiled,  but  by  starving 
men,  that  the  bodies  themselves  might  be  used  as  food. 

He  tells  us  of  a  wretched  human  being  who  posed  as  a 
hermit  near  Macon,  and  who  lured  to  the  hut  he  occupied 
a  man  and  his  wife,  by  offering  them  hospitality  for  the 
night.  The  man,  while  sitting  on  a  stool,  saw  under  the 
bench  that  served  as  a  couch  several  human  skulls.  Resist- 
ing persistent  efforts  of  the  hermit  to  detain  them,  he  and 
his  wife  escaped  to  the  neighboring  town  where  they  informed 
the  authorities  of  what  they  had  seen.  A  posse  went  to 
the  hut  and  there  found  no  less  than  forty-seven  skeletons 
of  men,  women  and  children  who  had  been  killed  by  the 
hermit  and  their  flesh  either  eaten  by  him  or  sold  to  persons 
perishing  for  want  of  other  food.  The  execution  of  this 
monster,  Glaber  tells  us  he  himself  witnessed. 

In  this  crisis,  when  under  the  double  scourge  of  famine 
and  war,  population  declined  so  rapidly  that  its  extinction 
seemed  inevitable,  the  Church  proceeded  to  invoke  the 
moral  forces  of  which  She  is  custodian  for  preservation  of 
the  race.  She  forbade  every  man  under  the  severest  ecclesias- 
tical penalties  from  attempting  or  perpetrating  any  violence 
against  other  men.  Overawed  by  the  terrible  conditions  in 
which  they  found  themselves  the  great  ones  of  the  earth 
obeyed  her  prohibition.  The  peace  which  followed  was 
declared  to  be  the  Peace  of  God.  The  man  who  violated  it 
was  pronounced  anathema,  outlawed  from  all  human  asso- 
ciation, refused  even  the  right  of  sanctuary  which  was 
denied  to  no  other  human  being. 

Glaber  says  that  immediately,  as  if  to  show  God's  approval 
of  this  peace,  the  seasons  again  became  propitious,  and  for 
three  years  prosperity  such  as  no  man  could  recall  smiled 
upon  the  earth.  Indeed  the  blessings  which  crowned  this 
peace  were  so  abundant  that  cupidity  was  reawakened 
among  the  powerful,  and  it  proved  too  strong  for  the  resolu- 
tions of  morality  and  the  restraints  of  religion. 

23 


But  its  beneficent  results  were  not  forgotten.  The  Church 
which  had  found  Herself  unable  to  maintain  permanently 
the  Peace  of  God  by  appeals  to  the  temporal  interests  of 
meD,  succeeded  a  few  years  later  in  establishing  the  Truce 
of  God  by  appeals  to  the  spiritual  faith  of  men.  She  began 
by  prohibiting  all  men  from  engaging  in  war  or  deeds  of 
violence  between  noon  on  Saturday,  the  eve  of  Our  Lord's 
Resurrection,  and  six  o'clock  on  the  following  Monday. 
This  prohibition  having  proved  effective,  the  Church  soon 
extended  it  first  from  Wednesday,  the  eve  of  Our  Lord's 
betrayal,  till  Monday  morning,  and  afterwards  to  include 
the  whole  of  Lent  and  Advent,  the  Ember  Days  and  the 
period  between  the  vigil  of  each  great  festival  and  the  day 
following  the  close  of  its  Octave,  so  that  less  than  one-third 
of  the  year  remained  what  might  be  called  an  "open  season" 
for  fighting. 

This  Truce  of  God  was  quite  generally  observed  through- 
out Europe.  Under  its  influence  the  energies  of  men  no 
longer  wholly  absorbed  in  war  turned  to  industry.  And 
when  at  the  end  of  that  century  Pope  Urban  II  preached 
the  First  Crusade  he  simply  proclaimed  anew  the  Truce  of 
God  among  all  Christian  princes,  forbidding  them  to  engage 
in  wars  among  themselves  and  urging  them  to  unite  for 
liberation  of  the  land  which  had  been  sanctified  by  the 
footsteps  of  Our  Divine  Redeemer  from  the  polluting  domina- 
tion of  the  infidel  who  had  seized  it.  The  Crusades  failed 
in  effecting  the  immediate  object  for  which  they  were 
organized,  but  they  constituted  a  movement  that  changed 
the  whole  aspect  of  the  world.  The  necessity  of  providing 
the  Crusading  armies  with  means  of  transportation  and 
subsistence  led  to  a  revival  of  industry.  Communes  were 
founded,  manufactures  established,  the  arts  cultivated.  This 
whole  industrial  civilization  of  ours  had  its  origin  in  that 
movement  which  established  peace  among  Christian  nations, 
not  for  the  benefit  of  any  country  but  for  the  benefit  of 
all  men,  and,  therefore,  for  the  glory  of  Almighty  God. 
Chivalry  was  the  lay  force  by  which  the  Popes  during 

24 


the  Eleventh  Century  succeeded  in  imposing  for  a  few 
years  the  Peace  of  God  and  for  many  years  the  Truce  of 
God  on  a  military  age.  Today,  in  the  Twentieth  Century, 
this  new  Chivalry  of  ours,  this  Knighthood  of  Columbus, 
is  the  first  lay  force  to  answer  the  Pope's  attempt  to  re- 
establish and  make  permanent  the  Peace  of  God  in  this 
industrial  age.  And  if  the  Peace  of  God  was  actually  es- 
tablished, even  for  a  few  years,  in  an  age  when  rapine 
and  conquest  were  supposed  to  be  the  only  pathway  to 
prosperity  and  arms  the  only  calling  that  honorable  men 
could  follow,  who  shall  say  that  the  Peace  of  God  cannot 
be  re-established  and  made  permanent  now  in  this  age  when 
men  have  enjoyed  the  extraordinary  prosperity  which  has 
been  the  fruit  of  peace  long  unbroken;  and  when 
not  merely  our  own  Order  but  all  the  moral  forces  of 
Christendom  are  ranging  themselves  behind  the  Pontiff, 
who  is  the  Prince  of  Peace,  in  his  efforts  to  end  this  war  and 
make  its  recurrence  impossible? 

Personally,  I  believe  that  if  peace  be  once  established 
disarmament  would  follow  naturally,  and  to  avoid  recur- 
rence of  war  would  at  once  become  the  passion  of  the  human 
race.  The  notion  that  fierce  international  hatreds  must 
long  survive  this  conflict  is  utterly  unsound.  Men  are  never 
embittered  against  each  other  merely  because  they  have 
fought  in  war.  No  nations  are  more  warmly  attached  to 
each  other  than  those  which  have  contended  valiantly  in 
battle.  Russia  and  Japan  were  locked  in  a  deadly  conflict 
but  ten  years  ago.  Now  they  are  allies  fighting  not  through 
obligations  of  a  treaty,  but  from  a  sense  of  mutual  interest 
and  a  strong  sense  of  mutual  respect. 


*  This  is  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  when 
many  nations  engaged  in  war  and  where  everyone  has 
acquitted  itself  with  distinction  and  glory.  Nations  that 
have  contended  against  each  other  with  such  valor  cannot 
be  devoid  of  mutual  respect,  and  mutual  respect  is  the 
surest  foundation  of  peace  and  amity.  v- 


25 


But  there  is  another  reason  for  believing  that  if  peace 
were  once  concluded  war  would  not  be  likely  to  recur  at 
least  for  many  generations.   The  two  incentives  to  war  that 
have  always  been  most  powerful  are  thirst  of  conquest  and 
thirst  of  glory.    This  war  has  satisfied  ueither  appetite. 
It  has  proved  beyond  all  doubt  that  fighting  does  not  pay. 
No  possible  conquest  of  territory  could  repay  any  one  of  these 
belligerents  for  the  frightful  cost  of  waging  this  war  or  even 
the  cost  of  preparing  for  it.    And  while  heroism  has  become 
a  commonplace  of  this  conflict  the  word  glory  has  never 
been  mentioned  in  connection  with  it.    Not  a  single  name 
has  emerged  in  dazzling  renown  from  battle.   All  the  splen- 
dors that  formerly  decorated  war  have  disappeared.  Armies 
are  no  longer  marching  phalanxes  clad  in  glittering  uniforms 
that  present  imposing  spectacles  to  the  eye.    They  are  com- 
posed now  of  men  in  the  somberest  garments  hoping  to 
elude   observation,    caked    in    mud,    burrowing  under 
ground  like  original  cavemen  and  there,  directing  against 
other  men  plunged  in  conditions  equally  sordid  and  disgust- 
ing, dreadful  engines  of  destruction,  which  kill  and  mutilate 
vast  numbers — beating   them  out  of  all  semblance  to 
humanity;  the  dismembered  dead  left  unburied  by  tens 
and  hundreds  of  thousands;  the  air  poisoned  and  the  earth 
made  loathsome  by  this  awful  perversion  of  agencies 
established  by  civilization  for  the  improvement  of  human 
conditions  and  the  lengthening  of  human  days,  to  destruc- 
tion of  human  possessions  and  the  ending  of  human  days. 

Such  a  war  offers  no  single  element  that  is  alluring  or 
that  could  tempt  men  to  renew  it.  It  is  a  sordid  slaughter, 
an  unspeakable  stench  which  after  stifling  part  of  the 
world  and  nauseating  the  remainder,  now  threatens  to 
destroy  the  whole  of  it;  from  which  if  the  human  race  once 
escape,  any  proposal  that  might  even  suggest  a  possibility 
of  its  recurrence  will  be  abhorred  even  as  a  proposal  to 
revive  cannibalism  would  have  been  abhorred  eighteen 
months  ago. 

With  the  moral  forces  of  Christendom  denouncing  the 

26 


inherent  wickedness  of  war,  and  all  recent  experiences 
making  clear  its  wastefulness,  its  sordidness,  its  unspeakable 
loathsomeness,  it  is  inconceivable  that  men  will  remain 
indifferent  to  the  necessity  of  ending  it  finally  and  forever. 

One  thing  is  absolutely  certain:  this  war  must  end  war, 
or  it  must  end  the  world.  It  is  now  perfectly  clear  that  the 
human  family  cannot  survive  renewals  of  such  destructive 
fury  or  continual  preparations  for  them  which  are  almost 
equally  destructive. 

But  this  evening  affords  us  special  reasons  to  view  the 
future  with  hope  and,  indeed,  with  confidence.  Our  Faith 
forbids  us  to  doubt  that  the  prayers  of  the  Pontiff  for 
peace,  supported  as  we  here  see  they  are  by  all  the  moral 
forces  of  the  whole  Christian  world,  will  be  heard.  And 
we  have  the  assurance  of  the  Divine  Author  of  Christianity 
that  whatever  is  asked  in  His  Name  will  be  granted.  We 
cannot  always  discern  the  agencies  which  Almighty  God 
selects  to  effect  His  purposes  of  beneficence  while  they  are 
yet  unfulfilled.  Looking  back  at  them  the  means  He  has 
chosen  to  accomplish  His  will  are  always  clear.  But  we  can 
already  see  how  He  has  raised  up  here  a  force  through  which 
His  peace  can  be  secured.  The  course  I  have  suggested 
may  not  be  the  only  method  open  to  the  President  for  bring- 
ing about  peace  by  scrupulously  correct  exercise  of  his  un- 
questioned powers,  and  without  in  any  way  compromising 
our  neutrality.  He  with  his  wider  information  and  his  much 
wider  abilities  may  find  another  and  a  much  better  method  to 
accomplish  this  glorious  result. 

Everything  that  I  have  said  on  this  head  it  should  be 
understood  is  intended  merely  by  way  of  suggestion.  The 
President,  and  the  President  alone,  is  charged  with  control 
of  our  foreign  relations.  Every  citizen  has  the  right,  and 
indeed  it  is  his  duty,  to  criticise  freely  any  measure  or  proposal 
of  the  President  or  any  other  officer  affecting  our  domestic 
conditions.  With  respect  to  measures  of  purely  national 
concern,  the  President  can  only  propose  them.    The  people 


27 


alone  can  dispose  of  them.  And  the  people  who  must 
decide  them  are  entitled  to  all  the  light  that  the  fullest 
popular  discussion  can  shed  on  them.  Matters  affecting 
countries  over  which  this  country  exercises  authority, 
direct  or  indirect,  I  count  as  of  national  rather  than  inter- 
national concern.  But  this  country  can  take  no  attitude 
towards  an  entirely  foreign  country  except  such  as  the 
President  prescribes.  That  attitude  the  citizen  must  support 
or  else  he  should  remain  silent.  For  he  cannot  oppose  it 
without  supporting  the  power  with  whom  the  President 
is  in  controversy,  correspondence  or  negotiation.  When 
therefore  the  President  speaks  to  another  nation  on  behalf 
of  this  nation,  all  Americans  I  believe  should  be  found 
standing  behind  him — none  in  front  of  him.  Concern- 
ing the  matters  I  have  discussed  here  the  President  has 
taken  no  position  whatever,  and  therefore  I  have  felt 
free  to  offer  these  suggestions  for  his  consideration  as  well 
as  for  yours.  Whether  they  commend  themselves  to  his 
approval  or  they  be  rejected  or  ignored,  the  fact  that 
Almighty  God  has  placed  such  resources  as  I  have  indicated 
within  the  reach  of  such  a  man  as  Woodrow  Wilson 
justifies  the  hope — nay,  it  imposes  the  belief — that  this 
desperate  conflict  will  prove  to  be  not  a  cataclysm  in  which 
Christian  civilization  is  tottering  through  fury  and  destruc- 
tion to  irretrievable  ruin,  but  a  great  dynamic  movement 
through  which  it  is  casting  aside  conventions  and  traditions 
that  have  become  outworn  and  therefore  restrictive  before 
leading  the  human  family  upwards  through  peace  and 
justice  to  a  plane  of  prosperity — material  and  moral — 
higher  than  has  ever  yet  been  attained,  grander  than  we 
are  able  now  to  conceive. 


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